Export Presets Missing (InDesign)

[Gregory Burns]

God this is frustrating. It seems every time Adobe "helps" me out by upgrading some of the Creative Cloud applications, they bone the pooch by screwing up preferences and presets. Lucky me, I have some new InDesign version (13.0.1) that's been auto-magically installed for me, and the presets I use to export to my printing service are gone. Completely. Seems to happen time and time again when Adobe makes such changes. My workspace settings in Photoshop get trashed, keyboard settings get trashed. Something always gets trashed. Believe me, it isn't "progress" you're giving me, Adobe, it's headaches.

What's the problem, Adobe? Not making enough money with the silly inconsequential upgrades you do to be able to employ people smart enough to avoid these issues? I don't think you understand how enraging it is for users who, sometimes at the last minute before a print deadline, find that an essential and critical feature has been trashed.

My forbearance in avoiding extensive cursing in this post should be an inspiration to all... <completely fuming>...

[Steve Werner]

What kind of presets are you working with? InDesign has quite a few kinds: Do you mean PDF presets (found in File > Export > Adobe PDF). Do you mean Print Presets (File > Print > Print Presets)? What operating system are you running?

If you upgraded from another major version of InDesign, custom PDF presets are stored in a different location depending on what operating system you're running. They have a .joboptions extension.

Print Presets are not stored unless you have done so manually. They are deleted when you restore your InDesign preferences.

Workspaces should be retained unless you've migrated from quite a ways back with InDesign. Those presets are also saved but the location depends on operating system.

Keyboard shortcuts also usually migrate as well. Again, location depends on operating system.

This page has links to a guide for presets and styles which you can download which explains where they are stored:

InDesign CC 2018 resources - TrainingOnsite.com

[Steve Werner]

Also, you don't have up delete the previous major version of InDesign when doing an update. It's a good practice to leave the previous version installed as you get used to a new version. There's an option when installing which allows you to do that.

[Gregory Burns]

Thanks for replying, Steve. It's a moot point now as I've rebuilt the critical preset I needed to get a job pushed through a printing service's gargoyles. It was a PDF preset, I'm running Windows 10 <spit to the bucket aside me in disgust>, I never do any updating of Creative Cloud applications as I let the CC shizzle do it's own updating thing (likewise I never delete any applications, probably because there's nothing to delete).

Keyboard shortcuts "usually" migrate, but don't always. That aggravates me every time. I've had to rebuild them at least three times over the past five years or so.

Workspaces "usually" migrate, but don't always. I've been screwing around in PS since the last "update" switching between the default workspaces until I get around to rebuilding mine. Again (cause like other Adobe trashing fits, the workspaces also gets trashed sometimes).

Print presets are also in the "sometimes there, sometimes not" category.

It's tiresome. I don't know why I go through this every year at least. At least before CC you could nail down a stable version and not have things mystically disappear.

Sorry, /rant mode off

Thanks for the ear... GB

[Dov Isaacs]

There is a feature in InDesign that might assist with this.

Look at:

         Edit => Migrate previous Local Settings …

This brings over whatever settings / configurations you had from the previous version of InDesign to the current version. Assuming you didn't wipe these out manually, this function should be able to assist you.

Let us know if that helps.

          - Dov

[Steve Werner]

Thanks for mentioning that, Dov. I've found that very helpful.

[Gregory Burns]

Thanks for the suggestion, Dov, but it replies it cannot find any old settings. I absolutely didn’t manually eliminate any, but my immediate problem is solved. Mostly started the post to vent, though past experience tells me it won’t do any good… Best, GB

[Doug A Roberts]

PDF presets should be here:

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

updating indesign shouldn't have any effect on them whether it removes the old version or not.

[Steve Werner]

That's the Windows location but the poster hasn't told us his operating system.

[Doug A Roberts]

he said Windows 10.

[Steve Werner]

You're correct. I missed that in his subsequent posting. He hadn't mentioned it last night when I responded.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

"...auto-magically installed for me..."

In my experience, none of the updates are ever automatically installed except for the Creative Cloud app itself. Everything else must be manually updated.

[Gregory Burns]

Yes, you're right. I usually get some type of notice that a handful of apps have updates, and I'm the one who triggers the install. But I never have a reason not to, or shouldn't anyways. Thx.

[Vivianuchi · Accepted solution]

I had the same exact problem when updating to Windows 10. Deleting preferences didn't help. I solved it by uninstalling InDesign and reinstalling it, and bingo, all the preset settings were back. Hope it helps.

[Jace6C15]

apparently they didnt read (or care) about your post.  It's still happening in 2024!  VERY Frustrating!

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. Please try the suggestions shared in this discussion and let us know if this helps or if you need further assistance.

Thanks

Rishabh